Yippeeeeeee!!!!

Can you hear me cheering???? Well, that would be because we now have a 4 day long weekend here in the UK ~ as it is Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Monday (on Monday obviously!!) ~ so that means no work for me until Tuesday ~ 4 days with just my 2 little stars to amuse ~ that will be bliss as this week has been the Easter school holidays and I have had 5 children to entertain every day!!

We have actually had a really nice week ~ I have been a bit slow with the posting ~ so just a few updates for you......Firstly ~ a few of you asked whether I liked Twilight ~ the answer ~ I loved it ~ loved the book and loved the film ~ and Edward ~ well, what can I say? ~ I so need to get me an Edward ha ha !!!!!

The bum situation (after my cycling on Tuesday) ~ can best be described as painful ~ Wednesday morning I got out of bed and thought "That doesn't feel to bad!!" ~ then I sat down on the edge of the bed and well, all I can say is ouch! Think of all the parts of you that touch a cycle seat (and without being tooooo graphic) ~ they are all the parts that hurt (BADLY!!).
When I visited my friends house on Wednesday ~ her husband said that the way that I was walking looked like an orangutang (I did slap him ha ha ) ~ but I am sure that you get the picture!
Today is slightly better ~ but I think that all cycling activities will definitly be a NO NO for the rest of this week!

The weigh in went well on Wednesday ~ another pound gone ~ bringing the total to 5 stone and 13 pounds ~(83 pounds) my original target was to lose 6 stone (84 pounds) ~ so I am a pound away from that target! I am not sure yet whether I will stick to that target or carry on ~ but after a year (almost) of dieting ~ I will be glad to ease of just a bit!
I am now going to concentrate more on maintaining the weight loss and a SERIOUS amount of toning up!

We had a special visitor with us this last week ~ her name is Flat Ashlinn and she has come to visit us from the USA!
Flat Ashlinn is a paper version of Ashlinn who lives in the US ~ and is part of a school project.
Flat Ashlinn has travelled all over the world visiting different places ~ where she has had her picture taken ~ we were so happy to have her here with us in our little village!

Here are some pictures from Flat Ashlinns visit with us........

Outside the local Pub ~ which is steeped in history ~ as you can read.....

With my little Lauren ~ outside our little village shop ~ Flat Ashlinn visited here to buy some sweets..

Flat Ashlinn having a look at the good old British post box that she was posted off to germany in today!

Outside our village church.....

Flat Ashlinn making a phonecall home from our cherry red phone box....

Lauren actually became quite attached to Flat Ashlinn and I think that she will miss her!

Flat Ashlinn has now been posted on to Germany ~ before she returns to the US and the end of her journey!

Thank you to Justine for involving us in this fantastic project and making it possible for Flat Ashlinn to visit us!



Earlier in the week (before the weather turned to wet, wet and more wet!) ~ we had an easter egg hunt in the garden. We hid baskets of eggs around the garden and the children had to find them and take an egg from each basket ~ there were 10 baskets in total ~ so it took them a while!

Lots of fun was had ~ lots of chocolate eaten! and lots of laughter ~ just as it should be!

Here are some pictures from the day!

Lauren very kindly posed for some pictures ~ you would be excused for thinking that I only have one child ~ as Dan does not often feature in my blog posts ~ this is for no other reason than when ever I get the camera out ~ he promptly runs away ha ha ~ so no pictures of my boy I am afraid.......I will catch him out oneday though!

Well ~ that is our week ~ in a nutshell ~ this weekend will be spent relaxing ~ I have a hair appointment booked for Saturday and Lauren is dying to go to the pictures and see the film '17 Again' ~ for the sole reason that her most favourite person in the whole world (Zac Efron) is in it......not that I am complaining of course!

Happy easter everyone ~ hope you have a wonderful weekend too XX

Happy Birthday Amanda xx

Today is my good friend Amandas birthday ~ so I thought that I would send her some special blog birthday gifts.........so in honour of Amandas birthday ~

Here are some yummy chocolates.......

A bunch of flowers....... A scrummy birthday cake ~ which took me hours to bake by the way (ha ha !!)

........and finally ~ MIKE HOLMES ~

A Special Delivery just for Amanda!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA ~ HOPE THAT YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY ~ FULL OF LOVE, LAUGHTER AND HAPPINESS ~ XX

Seemed like a good idea.....at the time.

My friend Jane (who I go power walking with) rang me tonight (we were due to go out walking ~ this week Tuesday and Friday are punishment days ha ha !!) ~ the conversation went like this....

Jane "Hi Tab ~ you know that we are due to go walking tonight ~ well, I have a suggestion ~ just say if you don't want to......"

Me ~ "OK"

Jane "Why don't we cycle the route instead? ~ It would be a good route to cycle and would be a change to walking ~ we could walk Friday still"

Me ~ (after short silence) ~"OK ~ but I don't have a bike......"

Jane "That's ok ~ you can borrow mine and I'll use Phils" (Phil is her Hubby)

Me (after another silence!) ~ "Oh go on then ~ but I warn you I haven't ridden a bike in AGES"

Jane "Don't worry ~ you never forget how to ride a bike ~ you will get back into it!"

SO ~ off we go! AND ~ boy would that have been a sight to see ~ me wobbling all over the place ~ nearly falling off and having no idea what I am doing!!

(By the way ~ that is so not true about not forgetting how to ride a bike..... I am living proof of that ha ha !).

Anyway ~ we start off well, the saddle is a bit hard and after a while I totally lose feeling in my bum ~ but things are going ok.......until we go off the track and onto the wooded area ~ where it is bumpy (VERY BUMPY) and then the fun really begins ~ I had next to no control over the bike on the concrete path ~ but add a woodland track into the mix and things got really hairy! Then there are the bark chippings ~ which made the walking harder ~ WELL ~ guess what ~ they make the cycling harder too ~ it was a killer!

I almost fell off on numerous occasions ~ then I came round a bend a bit fast and almost went completely off the track and down a bank ~ but we make it round the whole route....all 2 long and excrutiatingly bumpy miles of it!!!!

We get back to Janes house......and I fall....sorry I mean get off the bike.......and OMG!! I can hardly walk ~ I totally have no feeling in my bum and my legs feel like they don't belong to me at all.....

I turn to say bye to Jane ......"That was great" she says "We will have to cycle the route again Friday.........."

"Yeah sure......" I answer feebly............as I wander off slowly ~ with the swagger of someone who has just ridden a horse for 300 miles........

I am just off to soak my poor aching body in the bath and hopefully by Friday I may have some feeling back in my bum again.........sometimes what seems like a really good idea at the time ~ turns out to be soooooo not good! XXX

Sorry.........

I will not be doing my planned Blog Post tonight.......

I have a prior appointment..........with a Vampire.....

Not just any old Vampire ~ But Edward to be precise!!

Twilight came out on DVD here today ~ and I am dying to see it (ha ha ~ )

See you all tomorrow ~ when normal service will resume......XX

PS ~ Please excuse the picture ~ it has been a tough day tee hee!! XX

Oh Boy!

What a week!
Have literally not had time to stop ~ and have just collapsed on the sofa (literally ~ after 2 miles of power walking) ~ so I decided that now was a good time to update!

Wednesday was April fools day ~ and I decided that my 2 little stars deserved a bit of an April Fool ~ it was nothing mean or particularly spectacular ~ but it was actually hilarious and a sight to see!!

I rushed into the bedroom on Wednesday morning and said "Kids ~ quick I have slept in and it's 20 past 8 ~ we have to leave for school in ten minutes ~ quick get dressed!!"

WELL ~ what followed was a sight to behold (I am soooooooo mean!) ~ out of bed they both jump ~ PJ's off ~ uniforms flying everywhere ~ socks ~ pants ~ hair bands and alot of rushing about ~ but they were literally ready in a split second (tee hee ~ makes a change to the usual snail like dressing of the normal morning!!!) ~ THEN ~ when Dan walked into the livingroom he spotted the clock and realised that it was only 7.30...........before he could say anything I shouted "APRIL FOOL" ~ and they both just stood there ~ looking like "AHHHH MUM".

The best part was that I then made them get undressed again ~ and made them go and have a wash and clean their teeth in the bathroom and get dressed again! By the end of it they were both a bit fed up with me (bahahahahah!!!!!).......

Daniel did get his own back a bit later on ~ when he ran out of the bathroom and told me there was a HUGE spider in the bath ~ followed by me stressing out and running about like a headless chicken ~ then he burst out laughing and just said "got ya Mum". Lauren did not really get the hang of the whole concept and rushed in about 2 minutes later to tell me that there was a snake in the toilet ~ obviously by this time we were all "Fooled" out!!

Wednesday was also weigh in time again ~ another 1 and a half pounds gone ~ so I have now lost 5 stone and 12 pounds (82 pounds) ~ and my target it (hopefully) within my grasp!!

Tonight was power walk time again ~ and boy do I ache!! Last week we took a different route due to the bad weather and I was fine the next morning. But tonight we did the route that we did last year ~ which is more uneven and the path through the woods has been covered with tree bark chippings ~ which made the walking so much harder! As soon as we got back my Bum and legs started to ache and I am seriously worried that I may be stuck on the sofa for the night (ha ha ha) ~ as my Bum may just not be able to haul itself of it!!!! I am also sad to report that my lovely new trainers are now no longer as white and shiny ~ and I also walked through horse poop ~ which has resulted in them being banished to the doorstep outside ~ as they now have a rather 'countryside' aroma to them! I will clean them in the morning ~ but for now my poor body is just staying on the sofa ~ with my trusty laptop and a gallon of diet coke at hand!
XXX